Study English in the Philippines: English and I (Yusuke)

Study English in the Philippines: English and I

There are a lot of reasons why students choose to study English in the Philippines, particularly at Pines Academy. Aside from the teachers, curriculumand facilities, the great learning environment and authentic English experience give the students an inner drive to improve and end up with self-discovery while adding an academic goal. Read Yusuke’s Personal English discovery at Pines.

Yusuke Tsuchimoto in Pines

“Why did I come to the Philippines?” This question pops into my head. I usually end up with an uncertain answer “For studying English?”. Of course it seems so, but for some reasons this answer seems not enough, as if it doesn’t express the true sense of why I came here. I want to know why I need to learn English.

Studying English in a Culturally Diverse Environment

The first reason why I came to Pines Academy is because I would like to offer the best solution to foreigners who visit our store. However, it is not actually necessary, for most of our customers are Japanese. Nowadays, I simply feel that learning English is fascinating. I am thrilled to feel that I can speak English at Pines every day. I feel that my English ability is enhanced; this is the driving force for maintaining my motivation. In addition to that, keeping in touch with my international friends is one of my enjoyments. Before I came here, I never experienced having foreign friends, nor did I know such different cultures.

By living in a multicultural society, I can compare myself with others, and as a result, my way of assessing myself has been changed. With this, I feel that those gender and racial stereotypes have gradually changed because of the ideas that were incorporated while staying here. For example, Filipinos sing songs whenever and wherever and they don’t mind if others are staring at them. Korean women are confident. They like taking selfies and putting on makeup. Saudi Arabians are forbidden to drink alcohol and to eat pork. They are supposed to worship at a secret place they set every day at a fixed time. As Japanese sense it, those things I mentioned are very different. They have a charm of their own and are impossible to imitate. Therefore, the limit of my concept of things has expanded as I realized that those ideas also exist in other cultures. The scope of tolerance for things that happens in my surrounding environment has expanded, and I got a broader outlook on life.

Motivation in Studying English

“What would happen to my motivation of improving my English skills?”

My motivation to study English always comes from my interest. It is not for work, test, or an upgrade in career. It’s just fun to simply enjoy my own progress. It can be anticipated that when I go back to my country, my interest in studying English will shift to doing my work. After all of these, the question now is, “What would happen to my motivation of improving my English skills?”, and that’s a problem I should overcome. Unless I would encounter that situation, I cannot mention anything about it and not be able to understand it as well. As always, things will take care of themselves, and at the same time I will learn.

I talked with one of my teachers whom I’ve met months ago. He said, “Now, your English skills improved in comparison with your skills before.” I asked him, “Why do you think so?” He said, “Because it was hard for me to understand what you were saying during our first meeting. There were few vocabularies and some grammatical mistakes from you, but now we can talk smoothly.”

English as a Self- expression Tool

“Expressing our opinion to others is fundamental to us human beings”

I have been living for 5 months in the Philippines. Looking back on the past weeks, I feel that it is correct to say that I learned naturally about English rather than studying English, it is like the process of a baby who is learning a language. I think that “expressing our opinion to others is fundamental to us human beings”. For most people, it is an essential desire, to gain motivation and acquire skills through the means of communication. I view English as a tool of self-expression and communication as music, dance, and art do and not as a language that linguists suggest it to be.

Environment Helps in Studying English

I figured out how my English ability improved, and it has something to do with the environment that I am in for the last months. When I first came to Pines, I could hardly understand what my teacher is saying and I couldn’t even say the word “sorry”, and some questions and phrases like “What does it mean?”, “Can I ask something?”, “I have a question.” etc. However, I continued to learn English without hesitation and gradually, I became better at it. By the time I was in my 3rd term, I became capable of understanding my teacher’s verbal communication. I even found out that essay writing is the study method that suits me. I write things that I want to say the most, my history and the most interesting ones, and then I read and memorize it. Finally, I incorporate those sentences into my day-to-day conversation. Given the environment of this Academy, I think that this is a unique method. I tried to integrate one aspect to another. Comprehensively, I was able to adopt all the methods I learned to study English and apply it to my companions whom I speak with every day.

Reason to Study English

What is English for me? I think it’s not “studying” or “a subject”. Why do I want to learn English… for exam, for a job? If I have these reasons, it’s boring. My first purpose of studying English was for work, but now it is fun to simply learn a new language or new expression. Although this is an extreme opinion, I think that we should not just study English. It seems we have to learn it naturally by using it daily, feeling the language with our heart and soul. I like communicating with people. Since we want to put ourselves out there, it is just delightful to discover new ways of expressing and connecting with people. I just want to keep in touch with people who I met in Pines, no matter where they are in the world.